Police on Sunday killed a suspected criminal in Mombasa after he sent a threatening message to police warning them to leave his mother alone.
The suspect who was only known as Dula had been on police radar for a long time and had been branded Mombasa’s most wanted criminal.
Before being gunned down, the suspect is said to have been the leader of a criminal gang called “Wakali Wao” that operates around Kisauni, Likoni and Nyali estates of Mombasa.
Reports indicate that Dula was on a looting spree with three accomplices when he was gunned down.
However, his three accomplices managed to escape.
“His three accomplices managed to escape but we have launched a manhunt on them,” Kisauni Police Commander Julius Kiragu told journalists.
Early last month, police shot and killed another suspected gangster in Kisauni and injured his accomplices.
The man was said to be part of a five-man gang armed with clubs and machetes that had stopped a matatu on the Bamburi-CBF route before attacking and robbing its passengers.
According to police, the suspects had posed as matatu conductors calling passengers at Sunlight stage in Bamburi.
When the matatu stopped, the men pulled out the driver and his conductor and rained kicks and blows on them before turning on the passengers.
“They slashed them and as they were escaping, they caught and attacked the student, leaving her with serious injuries,” a statement by police read.
Mombasa gangs
Machete-wielding gangs have turned Mombasa streets and estates into their killing zones, sparking fear of insecurity in the entire county.
Killings in parts of Kisauni and Likoni sub-counties appear to go unabated, with human rights groups reporting that 15 people have been killed by the gangs in the last one month.
Some parts of Kisauni like Utange, Junda, Mishomoroni, Kadzandani and Kwa-palestina, are under the gangs who have literally imposed a “curfew” on residents who are forced them to be in their houses before 7pm.
Resident are said to have now resorted to forming vigilante groups to protect themselves.
When questioned on the state of security in the affected areas, Mombasa Police Commander Johnston Ipara said that they have intensified intelligence-gathering and deployed more police officers to patrol areas affected by insecurity.
